Derick: I'd say the worst piece of luck, I brought up COVID earlier,
Derick: and I'd say the timing of that was a really bad piece of luck because I went
Derick: through a breakup in January of 2020,
Derick: just like late January.
Derick: So just a couple of weeks pretty much after I was like, well, you know,
Derick: I'm single now, you know, I'm kind of depressed about that, but I'm going to
Derick: get back out in the World and I'm gonna like you know Get ready and then it's
Derick: like you're not going Anywhere buddy.
Danny: Hi, and welcome to 5 Random Questions, the show with unexpected questions
Danny: and unfiltered answers.
Danny: I'm your host, Danny Brown, and each week I'll be asking my guests five questions
Danny: created by a random question generator.
Danny: The guest has no idea what the questions are, and neither do I,
Danny: which means this could go either way.
Danny: So sit back, relax, and let's dive into this week's episode.
Danny: Today's guest is Derick McDuff.
Danny: Derick is the host, editor and producer of the Underrated Movie Podcast,
Danny: discussing underrated, underappreciated and under-the-radar films.
Danny: He also writes about film and pop culture for sites like WatchMojo and FilmFred.
Danny: So Derick, welcome to 5 Random Questions.
Derick: Hey, thank you for having me. Very excited to be here.
Danny: You're very welcome and very excited to have you.
Danny: As we were saying in Green Room, this season and last season,
Danny: I'm really looking for new guests I haven't, you know, met before, etc.
Danny: And it's always fun meeting new people. So I'm super excited to have you on the podcast.
Danny: And as I mentioned in the intro there, obviously as someone who's so keenly
Danny: attuned to the movie industry,
Danny: I'm just curious what your thoughts are around the topic of,
Danny: there's like a discussion going on, maybe for the last six months or so,
Danny: about maybe cinema in the mainstream losing its appeal to certain audiences
Danny: who are maybe preferring streaming.
Danny: And now you're seeing movies that are being made exclusively for streaming apps, etc.
Danny: You got a take on that? Do you think that's the case or not?
Derick: Well, it's interesting because I'm not inherently opposed to streaming movies.
Derick: I think it's a new avenue and if you can get more people into film,
Derick: people who either can't leave the house or it's hard for them or financially
Derick: it's difficult to go to the movies, whatever it might be.
Derick: I don't think that's inherently a bad thing. What I think is kind of dangerous is when we're seeing...
Derick: The release window from movies coming out to theaters to being released on,
Derick: you know, VOD and then streaming getting smaller and smaller and smaller.
Derick: It used to be like, you know, six months or whatever.
Derick: And then the exclusive now the exclusivity window, especially if a film doesn't
Derick: do well, is like two weeks. Sometimes it's crazy small.
Derick: So I think that it can be a good thing.
Derick: I know people were freaking out a lot when it looked like Netflix was going
Derick: to buy Warner Brothers because they were like, oh, you know, this is going to go away.
Derick: In my opinion, we're in a much worse situation now with Paramount buying Warner
Derick: Brothers because that's a lot more monopolistic and there's a lot of things
Derick: that Paramount is doing that I don't agree with.
Derick: So, you know, it's kind of one of those things that's like, oh,
Derick: well, streaming seems bad, but, you know, there's alternatives that are worse.
Derick: And so I don't have a problem with streaming. I do, though, I still love going
Derick: to the movies, having that shared theatrical experience.
Derick: And whatever you can do to keep cinemas alive, I think is a good thing.
Derick: And I do think that, honestly, streaming does in some ways help keep cinemas alive.
Danny: Yeah, like you mentioned, the release windows are getting much smaller now, which is crazy.
Danny: I remember you used to have to wait years before a big blockbuster would come
Danny: out of terrestrial TV, for example.
Danny: Yeah, yeah. And now it seems it's almost aligned with the theater release.
Danny: And yeah, the movie-grown experience.
Danny: I always think of something like, you know, a Star Wars or the Daredevil, not the Daredevil.
Danny: Oh, my gosh, I've just lost. Ryan Reynolds, who's this?
Derick: Oh, Green or Deadpool.
Danny: Deadpool. I just lost train of thought there for a moment. So,
Danny: yeah, when Deadpool came out and obviously Wolverine was in it and it was just,
Danny: it was crazy seeing the reactions to some of the cameos, for example.
Danny: So, yeah, there's always a big thing to, you know, big positives to the movie
Danny: gone through experience. So hopefully, I grew up as someone that loved going
Danny: Saturday martinis in the streets of Edinburgh.
Danny: I hope that stuff like that never changes.
Danny: And obviously your podcast is about underappreciated and under-recognized movies,
Danny: and you discuss that. In your humble opinion...
Danny: On the flip side, what is the most overrated movie and one that people appreciate you think? Really?
Derick: I might have to say Gravity, the Alfonso Cuaron movie.
Derick: I'm just not a big fan of that director in general.
Derick: I think that especially that movie, there's not a lot on the page.
Derick: It's a lot of cool special effects.
Derick: It's a lot of like, how did they get this shot? But I don't think that there's
Derick: really that much interesting happening on a script level or,
Derick: you know, not to be rude to Sandy B on a in an acting level, you know,
Derick: there's it's there's a lot of stuff where like she's just kind of going through
Derick: space and shouting and she doesn't know what to do until she imagines what a man would say to her.
Derick: And then she can figure it out like i just i don't
Derick: think there's a lot there and when you see it in like
Derick: the imax in the 3d you know to talk about theatrical experience
Derick: i know a lot of people enjoyed that a lot
Derick: more than i did and i think that if you look
Derick: at it's like ratings on letterboxes over the years it's declined
Derick: steadily because it's just not it's not a movie that translates well to a small
Derick: screen you know speaking of streaming again whereas i don't know you watch you
Derick: can watch the godfather on a plane and it'll still be the godfather you know
Derick: if you watch like gravity on your phone you're not going to have a good time yeah.
Danny: No that's an interesting one i watched it on a small screen i
Danny: think i watched it when it came out i don't know if it was netflix prime whatever it
Danny: may have been uh and i kind of enjoyed the premise and of it man but yeah like
Danny: i say it's kind of tapered off a bit and uh it didn't really do her any justice
Danny: because of that um so yeah so that's a good one i can i can go with that one
Danny: hopefully though what isn't underappreciated is the randomness of the questions
Danny: we're about to go through.
Danny: So with that tenuous link there, are you ready to jump in the random question hot seat, Eric?
Derick: All right, yeah, I'm ready. Put me in the hot seat. Let's go.
Danny: All righty. Let's bring up my random question generator.
Danny: Okay, it's a fairly easy one, I feel, to kick things off with.
Danny: Question one, Derick. Do you believe in luck?
Derick: Yeah, yeah, I believe in luck. You know, I think that, and there's always a
Derick: thing of like, oh, somebody makes their own luck, but you know.
Derick: Things are always going to happen that are going to be outside of your control.
Derick: You flip a coin. Something could be as simple as you flip a coin and it comes
Derick: up heads when you need it to come up tails.
Derick: Or it could be just bigger events in your life. Things that were unexpected.
Derick: I don't think any of us were expecting lockdown to happen. That was unlucky for everybody.
Derick: So I think that just random chance exists in the world. You never know what's going to happen.
Danny: Do you feel you can shape your own luck to a degree?
Danny: Obviously, you mentioned flipping a coin. They're very random. You've got two options.
Danny: Unless it's crazy weird and you're like the teens that try to do the bottle
Danny: lid flip and it lands on its edge, which isn't going to happen, let's face it.
Danny: But do you think you can shape your own luck sometimes where you want something to happen?
Danny: So you're sort of determining a process almost that might seem lucky.
Danny: So it might be lucky that you got a really cool job offer. but in the background
Danny: you've been dropping little snippets here and there to go for that job and put
Danny: yourself in the frame kind of thing
Derick: Yeah i do honestly think that you know
Derick: you can do stuff to you know quote unquote improve your
Derick: odds you know like there's always things you can do you know not
Derick: like if you are like oh that was just
Derick: bad you just like you're complaining about your luck all the time you know that's a
Derick: little much but you know and there's always going
Derick: to be things that don't go your way but you can always work
Derick: on things make things see go that in your favor and if things aren't going really
Derick: bad i always think of i'm um you know we were kind of like before we got on
Derick: talked a little bit about star trek 2 i always think of um for people who aren't
Derick: familiar there's this test that they put the students through in that movie called the kobayashi,
Derick: kobayashi maru where it's this no win scenario where you get put in this situation
Derick: and you can't when the only person who ever passed was Captain Kirk,
Derick: and that's because he cheated and rewrote the situation.
Derick: And because Kirk says, I don't believe in the no win situation.
Derick: And I always think of that. It's like, you know what? No matter what,
Derick: you're in this bad situation.
Derick: There's always a way that you can find some way. There's always a path to success.
Derick: However convoluted and difficult and unlikely it might be, I think you could
Derick: find a way to succeed at what you're doing.
Danny: Yeah, man, that's fair. And I guess then, like just to sort of ease out of this
Danny: one, which is a nice one to ease into the five questions experience.
Danny: But if you had to choose of thinking of your own examples, what's either the
Danny: best piece of luck that's come your way or happened to you? Or what's the worst
Danny: piece of luck that's happened to you?
Derick: I'd say the worst piece of luck. I brought up COVID earlier,
Derick: and I'd say the timing of that was a really bad piece of luck because I went
Derick: through a breakup in January of 2020,
Derick: just like late January.
Derick: So just a couple of weeks pretty much after I was like, well,
Derick: you know, I'm single now.
Derick: I'm kind of depressed about that, but I'm going to get back on the world,
Derick: and I'm going to get ready. And then it's just like, you're not going anywhere, buddy.
Derick: I think that's the one I think of bad luck. That's the one I think of that.
Danny: Yeah, I, I can't, I don't have anything to add to that. I say terrible, terrible.
Derick: I'll say here's some good luck actually that came with that is that I just happened
Derick: to have right at that same time, my former roommates.
Derick: So like my best friend's wife's best friend had to had a cat that she had to find a home for.
Derick: And so and she knew that I loved
Derick: cats and I had had a cat like my whole life you know for
Derick: like 20 years and it died or passed away a couple years prior
Derick: you know lived a long good life but I hadn't had a cat since then and she knew
Derick: that I would be a good cat owner she's like hey would you like this cat so all
Derick: right you know it was like April or something of that same year so it's like
Derick: all right I just happen to have some good luck and get my I always call her
Derick: my emotional support cat because I'm just locked inside all day,
Derick: just thinking about everything.
Derick: And now I have this noisy animal who just wants love and affection for me.
Derick: So that was some good luck that I got my emotional support cat.
Danny: No, that's good. There was a silver lining there.
Derick: Yeah, exactly.
Danny: And cats are awesome. They don't bug you too much like dogs can.
Danny: But when they want to, they're right there for you.
Derick: Exactly, exactly.
Danny: It worked out well. That's awesome. I like that. And like I said,
Danny: it's a nice gentle way to ease into the random questions.
Danny: Hot seat time. So on that note, let's have a look at what question number two is.
Danny: Okay question two what is your
Danny: least favorite part of your day it doesn't have to be the day but your day
Derick: It's a good question because like i feel like my days are always so,
Derick: different you know i guess if it's a if it's a a day where because i you know
Derick: i i podcast on and stuff but i do have a day job um so i guess it would be a
Derick: day where i have to go into work when I have to get ready and leave,
Derick: you know, cause then you've still, I've still got my whole
Derick: eight hours ahead of me. And it's not like I hate my job.
Derick: I like my day job, but it's just like that moment of like walking out the door
Derick: and be like, all right, here we go.
Derick: Let's, let's get this thing over with, you know? And so I think from there it's,
Derick: you know, it's all like, all right, well, I'm, I'm in the flow.
Derick: I'm starting to do stuff, you know, but,
Derick: getting to the point where you're like i have to you have to force yourself
Derick: out of bed walk out the door it's never fun yeah.
Danny: And what's it is it close to you i know sometimes people have got like long
Danny: commutes to their day jobs etc is that part of it or not too bad
Derick: Luckily it is it is close um i did i worked a bit further for a little while
Derick: um but i am closer now so it is at least it's a short commute um and i can like
Derick: you know listen to podcasts and stuff on the way um so at least i I've got that benefit.
Derick: I know it's, you know, it's rough. Like I always think of my dad when,
Derick: you know, I was growing up, he had this like hour and a half long commute and
Derick: I, too much, too much. I couldn't do it.
Danny: Yeah. I used to work in Toronto before we moved to where we are now.
Danny: And my daily commute was two hours each way. It was horrible.
Danny: And that's when I had young kids, like they were super young then.
Danny: So I was leaving before they got up for breakfast and I was getting home as
Danny: they were almost getting to bed.
Danny: I did that for three years and I hated it. So I'm with you.
Danny: I like it. If that was me, that would that would
Danny: definitely be my least favorite part of the day for sure and and i guess maybe
Danny: thinking back to the first question about luck um and you believe in luck if
Danny: you were to win the lottery would you continue this might be a silly question
Danny: would you continue that job or would you ease out that and put more into the
Danny: podcasting your creative side then oh
Derick: I would quit immediately you know like i it's it's nice to have like you know
Derick: things that are a little like a little bit tough to get with,
Derick: like podcasting, like health insurance and a 401k, you know, in the US.
Derick: But yeah, that's that. Like I said, I like that job for a job,
Derick: you know, but this is what we're doing right now.
Derick: This is my passion. This is what I really, really love to do.
Danny: Yeah. Well, as someone that podcasts, you know, a serial podcaster,
Danny: if you like, I'm 100% with you there.
Danny: I mean, I work at a job that I love.
Danny: It's a podcasting platform and industry.
Danny: And I probably still work there, I feel, because it is embedded in what I love.
Danny: But yeah, if it was like a 95 day job at an office or something like that,
Danny: I'd probably be out like you, out like Flynn and into, you know, into the creative side.
Danny: So I hear you on that. so yeah that's uh i feel that's a fair part i feel maybe
Danny: most people would say you know the least favorite part is taking them away from
Danny: doing something they really want to do or enjoy so yeah we'll go with that for sure
Derick: I i always say you know when i started the podcast like
Derick: five or six years ago it was a hobby and
Derick: now it's become a side hustle you know it's it's
Derick: a way for me to like i am i it does afford me the ability
Derick: to work less hours at work you know get some extra
Derick: money like you know obviously flex my
Derick: creative muscles and then i'm hoping you know in another five
Derick: or six years this is my profession you know this is i i this is what i can do
Derick: i'm able to you know make enough of between this and the writing and all the
Derick: other stuff that i don't have to worry about you know going getting the 401k
Derick: and the health insurance and all that stuff yeah.
Danny: Well i feel your podcast as well is very well set up for that kind of thing
Danny: where you can also do live events, you can go to movie theatres and have these
Danny: conversations and these episodes in movie theatres with live audience, etc.
Danny: So, you know, and maybe have the underappreciated movie playing as the entree,
Danny: and then you discuss it afterwards.
Danny: So, yeah, I can see that happening for sure.
Derick: Yeah, I've done a couple of those. It's always fun. I've got another one set
Derick: up for later in the year that I'm looking forward to at a museum.
Danny: Oh, I'm not going to say is that going to be Night at the Museum,
Danny: because that was an appreciated movie.
Derick: Not quite, although that could be a fun one to do at some point.
Derick: But, you know, that would be a fun one we'd all do at a museum and talk about.
Danny: Yeah, see what comes to life and then do a follow up some bonus content.
Danny: Awesome. I like that one. So let's have a look at what question number three brings up.
Danny: OK, it's a bit more of a not somber one, but more like a serious one of you like.
Danny: But question before you, Derick, what is your biggest regret?
Derick: That's, you know, that's, that's a good question. Uh, I mean,
Derick: obviously, you know, you try to live with as, as few regrets as possible.
Derick: Um, but I think, you know, I think I would, there's, you know,
Derick: arguments and stuff that you've gotten in with, you know, friends or family
Derick: members and stuff like that.
Derick: There's always things you, you wish you, you hadn't said to people and stuff like that.
Derick: So, I mean, there's, I just wish that there's times when maybe I've been,
Derick: I've been kinder to people, you know, and I'm not saying, you know,
Derick: like I'm going out and yelling at people every day, but, you know,
Derick: we all, we all do stuff that we, you know.
Derick: Wish we could take back. And I think that, yeah, maybe there's,
Derick: there's a few times where, you know, I've been in the heat of an argument or
Derick: something and, uh, you know, said something that I wish I hadn't said.
Derick: So I, there's not, I can't think of a particular, you know, one,
Derick: which is, I guess, a good sign.
Derick: Um, but you know, I always try to, you know, be, be more empathetic,
Derick: be kinder and stuff like that.
Derick: And, uh, yeah, I, and, you know, you know maybe
Derick: two like you're you know you've had a couple
Derick: and you're just you know you're a little bit more loud and and uh uh and gregarious
Derick: than you should be so i think that probably would be you know my my regret is
Derick: just you know is is uh being a little bit more loud and obnoxious than i should have been in the past.
Danny: Well it's funny you mentioned that about um you
Danny: know having a couple of libations for example um because my
Danny: uh my uncle very typical scottish man um
Danny: he'd have a few beers at the weekend and he'd just unload
Danny: on you with some home truths you like to
Danny: call it and he says you can always tell when i'm being honest with you
Danny: because i'll always just tell you the truth when i've had a few beers and
Danny: people say yeah but you're not being truthful you've been obnoxious you
Danny: know it's there's two they're not mutually exclusive um
Danny: and when you when you recognize that you've maybe said something in that event
Danny: do you feel too embarrassed to apologize after do you find that you do kind
Danny: of make things up or do you think that i should just let that one go and not
Danny: bring it back up at all because that it's just bad for everybody i
Derick: Think you know i think it's always important to own up to your mistakes you
Derick: know i think that especially if you know the people it's people that you care
Derick: about you know it's yeah rather than just sweep it,
Derick: It's good to, to air it out to, you know, cause I feel like if,
Derick: if the situation's reversed and if somebody, you know,
Derick: says something out of line to me or something like that, or, you know,
Derick: has too many and, and to speak in some home truths, uh, you know,
Derick: I, I, I definitely appreciate them trying to like own up and be a big person
Derick: and, and admit their mistakes.
Derick: And I always try to admit my mistakes and rather than just, you know, like, ah,
Derick: like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to bring it up because it'll be awkward,
Derick: you know, apologize, say, hey, you know,
Derick: I'm sorry, you know, I shouldn't have said that, blah, blah,
Derick: blah, you know, so I think it is important to be a big person to realize your faults and to,
Derick: you know, hopefully the people will, that you care about will accept, you know,
Derick: accept that and, and, uh, you know, take it back into the fall.
Derick: As long as it doesn't become a recurring thing, you know, as long as you can,
Derick: I think it's important to look at your mistakes and try and grow and learn from them.
Derick: Because I think as much as my successes have made me who I am,
Derick: I think, you know, a lot of my regrets and failures have as well.
Derick: And you know, you try to be a better person every day.
Danny: Well, it's interesting you mention that. The episode that dropped today, Rai Voss is my guest.
Danny: We were talking about something like that, about time travel or going on in
Danny: the past or something like that. I can't recall exactly how it got to that point.
Danny: And he's on about, he had very active, realistic dreams, if you like.
Danny: And one was going back in time to warn his younger self not to hook up with his younger wife.
Danny: But then to your point, if you do that, then you don't learn from these experiences
Danny: of what went wrong there. and it helped him be with his wife and he's got a
Danny: child now that wouldn't have happened had that not been the case.
Danny: I mean, is there anything in your past that you feel that you really wish you
Danny: could have a makeover, a do-over with or to your point, it would just impact who you are now too much?
Derick: Yeah, no, I don't think that I would change anything. I think,
Derick: like you said, it's something that would impact who you are and you think about
Derick: these big regrets that you have but, you know, things that didn't turn out,
Derick: you know, like not to keep going back to it, but there, you know,
Derick: what that breakup that I went through right before COVID, you know,
Derick: you think, oh, well, if I had said this different, then I had done this differently,
Derick: you know, but then if I mean that person don't break up, then I'm not with my current girlfriend,
Derick: which, you know, I would like, I'm so much happier now, you know,
Derick: like it was such a good, healthy relationship now.
Derick: So if I don't go through, you know, a, a rough breakup and,
Derick: you know a you know learn from things
Derick: you know and just about myself and
Derick: about you know relationships in the world and everything and B you
Derick: know if I'm still with that person who is not necessarily right for me and now
Derick: with a much better person for me you know so I think that you you you know it's
Derick: kind of like what we're talking about before about like making your own luck
Derick: is that even if there's situations you get into that are of your own causing that are not great,
Derick: You can learn from them. You can find a way to go forward. You can make a better
Derick: situation for yourself, ultimately.
Danny: Yeah, it's like that. I don't know what the term is for it, but like you say,
Danny: it's making your own luck. But it's the changes that could happen.
Danny: Yeah, it's positive that you can impact your life for better at that time.
Danny: But the negatives could be so huge at this time, you know, now.
Danny: So I guess it's almost like you're saying, yeah, there's things that we regret.
Danny: Everybody does that. but that's part of just growing and learning and doing
Danny: better the next time, I guess.
Derick: Yeah, exactly. Like that's part of being human, you know, like nobody's infallible,
Derick: nobody's perfect and you're going to make mistakes.
Derick: And the important thing is to when you make those mistakes to learn from them
Derick: and to grow and to be a better person.
Danny: Well, I like that. I cannot add anything onto that at all. That is perfect. So I like that.
Danny: And speaking of being a better person, we better move on to question number four. Very nice thing.
Danny: Yeah, I have to work on these. Some work, some don't, but we'll see.
Derick: You know what? You're doing a lot of them every episode. So you know what?
Derick: Law of averages, there's going to be one that, you know, but they're great. They're great.
Danny: I appreciate that. Question number four, Derick. What do you want to learn more about?
Derick: Ooh, learn more about, because that's, I'm always trying to learn.
Derick: I'm always trying to grow, you know, I'm, I like to learn a lot about history, honestly.
Derick: I mean, I, that's for like my day to day, just kind of like,
Derick: I like to learn just like interesting, random, fun facts.
Derick: But I guess on a, like, kind of like a more, you know, related to,
Derick: you know, what we're talking about here.
Derick: I always want to learn more about how to be a good podcaster be a good writer
Derick: be a good creator And I think about like, you know, I feel not that I don't
Derick: feel like I know a lot because I do I Think I'm you know very versed.
Derick: I like to you know in that same vein learn more about movies and that's why
Derick: because I didn't go to film school or anything, but I Watch a lot of movies. Obviously.
Derick: I listen to a lot of film podcasts.
Derick: I read a lot of books on film so,
Derick: When you, you know, when it comes to podcasting, when I think about the stuff
Derick: that I know now that I didn't know when I started, I'm like,
Derick: I didn't know anything, you know, I thought I knew a ton when I started.
Derick: And so I'm sure that, you know, a few years down the road, I'm like,
Derick: wow, I was doing this in 2026. I can't believe I was doing that.
Derick: You know, so yeah, just learning more about the craft and about the medium that I'm covering, I think.
Danny: And is there a second obviously movies have got you
Danny: look at the credits on a movie you know and there's so
Danny: many people that can be involved and sometimes you think really there was 10
Danny: producers on that where did that go wrong you know so it's like come back to
Danny: your overappreciated movie um what is there an aspect in movie making a movie
Danny: producing movie promotion whatever that you would really really ideal job love
Danny: to you know learn and excel at i guess
Derick: I would love to learn to be a better screenwriter. I write, obviously,
Derick: a lot. I've written some fiction.
Derick: But I don't think I'm a great screenwriter. I've read a few screenplays.
Derick: I've read William Goldman's book on screenwriting, which I highly recommend
Derick: to anybody. I've read some Sid Field stuff.
Derick: But if I was going to have a job in the film industry, I think I would be a screenwriter for sure.
Danny: And what's the, because as you mentioned, you write a lot. But there's,
Danny: apart from just the format, because obviously screenwriting and screenplays
Danny: are different from, say, written books and, you know, journalism.
Danny: What do you feel is the biggest hurdle, for want of a better word,
Danny: that makes a great screenwriter from someone that can write a screenplay?
Derick: I think it's knowing how to best utilize the medium.
Derick: Because, you know, on one level, you're not writing this to be read.
Derick: With so much other writing you write a book or a poem or something like that
Derick: this is meant to be read or at least spoken verbatim whereas the screenplay
Derick: you're writing things that are,
Derick: other than the dialogue you're writing so much that is very technical,
Derick: like you're writing stage direction and all this stuff and you have to know
Derick: how to do that but you also still can't lose that lyricism,
Derick: which is why I think a lot of really good screenwriters, like I just brought
Derick: up Bill Goldman, who's my all-time favorite screenwriter.
Derick: He started as a novelist and kind of accidentally became a screenwriter.
Derick: So I think you have to have that technical aspect, but you also have to be a
Derick: really good storyteller.
Derick: You know, you have to be able to want to, you know, create something that is
Derick: a little with a little bit more ambitions that,
Derick: a play, like, reads like a novel. Because if you read, you know,
Derick: William Goldman's screenplays, or, you know, like, there's a reason Shakespeare,
Derick: his plays are read and studied, those are things that were never meant to be
Derick: read like a book, but they still read so well.
Derick: You know, you can get really engaged with them, even though it's a medium not even meant for that.
Derick: So I think you have to really have that, both of those talents in spades.
Danny: Yeah, I could imagine. So you mentioned it's set in a scene not only for the
Danny: actors, or maybe reading it as a read-through or first impressions.
Danny: But I guess you've also got to set the scene in the actor's head because of
Danny: what could be or should be happening on screen at the time.
Danny: So if there's a bunch of special effects, I can only imagine what a massive
Danny: special effects movie might look like from a screenwriting point of view because
Danny: you're trying to say, well, this is going to be up here, that's going to be
Danny: here, there's got to be floating zargons over here, etc.
Danny: So I'm curious to know whether it can do that. You mentioned you've done,
Danny: or you want to be a better screenwriter.
Danny: Have you done a few yourself that you've submitted, or is that a go?
Derick: No, I haven't written any screenplays. When I've written fiction stuff,
Derick: it's usually more like novellas or novels or short stories.
Derick: I haven't really done any screenplays.
Derick: I would like to maybe work on a documentary, and that's a different thing.
Derick: But I would love to do a documentary slash video essay kind of thing.
Derick: I have some ideas for what I want to do with that.
Derick: It would be cool to write a screenplay, but I think one of the problems with screenplays is...
Derick: Not problems with screenplays, but a problem that a lot of screenwriters bump
Derick: up against is that unless you're directing your own stuff...
Derick: You know, your vision isn't necessarily going to be realized,
Derick: which is why I think you see a lot of the best screenwriters are like,
Derick: are now thought of as some of our best directors.
Derick: You know, you think of like Alex Garland or like Billy Wilder or something like that.
Derick: These people who start writing screenplays and then they just keep getting frustrated
Derick: because they're like, well, you did it differently than I was wanting it to
Derick: do, or you changed this stuff. So they're just like, I'll do it myself.
Derick: So I think that is one of the things too. And, you know, film is obviously a
Derick: collaborative process unlike novels which is like one person writes the novel
Derick: and sure you might have like an editor or something but it is really one point of view whereas
Derick: you know even if you are the writer and the director you still have to have the actors.
Derick: Saying you know the words and they might you know he you can't make them say
Derick: it exactly the way like it's a fincher's always talking about he's like yeah
Derick: these he wants to control his actors so much
Derick: which is a different vibe than like clint eastwood who's like yeah just
Derick: kind of like say it however you want to say you know have your own process i
Derick: don't care um which makes sense because clinton eastwood
Derick: was an actor and uh you know and you know these other guys who started screenwriters
Derick: and stuff like that might have a different opinion so i i'm much more of the
Derick: like i want to create a world and just kind of like work on it myself than i'd
Derick: feel like a screenwriter would do but it would be something fun i think yeah.
Danny: It's funny you mentioned the the relationships between you know,
Danny: the different creatives. I've been really enjoying watching a bunch of YouTube shorts.
Danny: And I'll have to find a full interview, I'm sure it's up there,
Danny: with Russell Crowe talking about his time in Gladiator and the relationship
Danny: he built up with Ridley Scott based on bringing that character to the screen
Danny: and how, you know, Ridley tried to direct when the first we meet,
Danny: you know, Maximus and he's on the battlefield, he's looking up at this imaginary
Danny: bird that flies off, et cetera, and that pulls him back to the battlefield.
Danny: And then how he wanted to,
Danny: When he finds his wife and his child hanging from the beams and he wanted Maximus
Danny: to actually try to hold him in touch and where Ridley Scott said,
Danny: well, that can be pretty dark, we're not going to go there.
Danny: And it's been fascinating to watch. I feel without Russell Crowe being the actor
Danny: in that piece, I don't think it would have been as good a movie.
Danny: Ridley Scott's a fantastic director, but I don't think the relationship would
Danny: have worked with maybe another actor because you could tell Russell Crowe was
Danny: so involved in this creation, this character.
Derick: Yeah and that's the thing is you know it when you
Derick: have creating a character you really need a strong presence
Derick: from writer director and screenwriter to really
Derick: make it work and you need to cast somebody like russell crowe with
Derick: a role that like powerful because i mean i i
Derick: acted before i was you know i was a theater
Derick: major for a hot minute and yeah acting is
Derick: such an important part of that and you might even bring as
Derick: an actor something that neither the writer or the screenwriter thought
Derick: of you know something like i speaking of ridley scott i
Derick: always think of blade runner and how rugger howard essentially
Derick: improvised the tears and rain thing and it's like one
Derick: of the greatest and you hear rugger howard talking about it's like yeah just
Derick: tears and rain i just kind of thought of it you know and and you know ridley
Derick: scott is just like or there's there's uh you know there's this interview i saw
Derick: where like the writers of parks and rec will be talking like yeah we you know
Derick: we write all these great pages and come up with all these jokes and then Chris Pratt or Nick Oferman or,
Derick: whoever would just say something, just improvise something and it's just hilarious
Derick: and gets a huge laugh out of the room. And it's something we never thought of.
Derick: That's one thing I love about film too is how collaborative it is. Is that you have,
Derick: all of these different people that you need to work together to make a film
Derick: and when it really works it's a magical thing.
Danny: No 100 and that parks and rec
Danny: favorite show well not favorite one of my favorite shows and uh yeah to your
Danny: point the blooper reels of that show are just crazy funny if you have like a
Danny: good body sense of humor you want a good laugh go look at the blooper reels
Danny: from parks and rec um it's just you mentioned chris pratt there just some of
Danny: the stuff he comes very funny guy oh
Derick: Yeah yeah i i will say just i miss i miss that era of chris pratt before he
Derick: was like i'm action hero man you know like that i he he was so funny for him
Derick: and he still does that occasionally the guards in the galaxy and stuff but yeah.
Danny: Yeah it needs to it'd be fun to revisit that i mean i don't know if it would
Danny: be fun sometimes you just have to leave the past behind um but maybe be fun
Danny: to revisit that and see what the character is doing 10 years now you know 10
Danny: years down the line from the original show timeline or whatever but great great
Danny: show and yeah that I'm not as obviously involved in the movie space as yourself.
Danny: But yeah, when you watch a good movie, you can see when everything's just come together perfectly.
Danny: And why, if it's underappreciated, why we need a podcast like yours to make
Danny: sure it gets appreciated because it's put all that effort in.
Danny: So yeah, I like that. I like that. And I feel that's a good time to move on
Danny: to your final question in the Hot C, Derick.
Danny: So let's have a look at what question number five brings up.
Danny: Okay, I'm going to go with this one. And I'm not trying to be mean to anybody
Danny: they might have received this from.
Danny: But question number five, what's the worst gift you've ever received?
Derick: Oof worst gift i've ever received
Derick: um okay uh i think
Derick: so my grandpa when
Derick: he was still alive um would was kind
Derick: of notorious for buying these really cheap like it was before timu was a thing
Derick: but they were very like timu style gifts like i don't know what website he was
Derick: buying them from but they were it was like it was old man timu that he was getting
Derick: these gifts from and he would always just get us essentially junk every Christmas or whatever.
Derick: I remember he got me like this really cheap watch once where the second hand
Derick: fell off like a day later.
Derick: I think that's probably the worst gift. Cause like, first of all,
Derick: I don't even wear a watch.
Derick: Like I, I'm not a watch guy, you know? Um, so I, he, he could like,
Derick: he clearly never like knew anything about us, you know?
Derick: Like he, he was like not really that present in our lives, you know,
Derick: no disrespect, but he just kind of was like
Derick: oh yeah derrick he's you know i was probably like 20 or something he's a young
Derick: guy young guys like watches at least they did in the 1950s or whatever so i'll
Derick: get him a watch and it was just like something he clearly spent like ten dollars
Derick: most on where it's literally falling apart the day i get it.
Danny: I wonder if that's like uh i i'm sure it must
Danny: be though but it must like a generational thing because um i
Danny: i like my wife i like to buy stuff for our kids
Danny: just like a surprise nothing major you know um hopefully
Danny: nothing team you like but we never know maybe it is um but and we always think
Danny: our son will like that or daughter like that and half the time they hate it
Danny: and we're thinking do we even know our kids and that's our kids not our grandkids
Danny: that we see maybe once a blue moon you know to hand over a watch or something
Danny: so i wonder if that's something as you get older,
Danny: you're still in the mindset of what you actually would enjoy.
Danny: And you're given that gift because you think, well, I enjoy it.
Danny: He or she's my blood and kin they're bound to enjoy it too
Derick: Yeah that's interesting because i mean i feel like when i'm giving gifts it's
Derick: it's always you know i always try to consider,
Derick: what the person would want but you got to bring your own flair a little bit
Derick: you know like like you gotta like um you gotta because you gotta give it a little
Derick: bit of personal there's a,
Derick: you it can balance too much towards that second
Derick: thing where it's like well this i think this is really cool so they must love
Derick: it too you know and it's especially hard when you
Derick: don't like you said it's different with you have your kids or whatever but it
Derick: was like if when you don't know somebody super well you're like i don't know
Derick: what what do i what do i get them you know like what do they they like and it's
Derick: i end up getting people books a lot of the time you know because i think books
Derick: are always like a like a great gift like you know but it's like well what's
Derick: your taste what are you gonna like.
Danny: Yeah yeah and it's funny like you mentioned the watch at least it was a manual
Danny: one because did still make digital watches now i've never i've haven't worn
Danny: a watch for years but i remember digital was massive at one time and i i don't
Danny: recall seeing them now to
Derick: Be honest yeah i i don't think like i said i don't really wear watches i guess
Derick: i yeah i guess people probably like runners and stuff wear them you know and
Derick: swimmers and like if you're doing something physical i think that they're they're
Derick: still big with that crowd but that might be it.
Danny: Yeah and i guess everybody's got a smartphone now anyway right
Danny: so you don't you know i keep them like messing
Danny: up my my my kids because they'll ask what time it
Danny: is whatever and i i'll generally i'll be checking time anyway
Danny: for whatever reason i'll have a decent idea what the
Danny: time is so i'll reply with the
Danny: time but i'll always make it a minute or two off and they'll say well
Danny: how do you know that because of the sun you know the sun's overhead at
Danny: two two o'clock angle right now so it's got
Danny: to be two o'clock or whatever and they don't know i'll be checking my
Danny: phone they will if they were listening to my podcast but they'll never
Danny: will so i'm safe there but um yeah it's just gifts are funny things like you
Danny: say mate it's uh you know you can make a really good decision or you can make
Danny: one that comes from a place of love but it's just the last thing you would ever
Danny: treat yourself to and what about yourself have you ever given a bad gift that
Danny: you know you made a mistake once you handed it over to the person
Derick: I don't know that I've like necessarily gotten a like given a bad gift.
Derick: But I think one of the funnier times when it was it was it wasn't bad.
Derick: It was like just kind of like, oh, this is weird and awkward was on Christmas.
Derick: This must have been 10 or so years ago because it was when I don't remember
Derick: it was Ted one or Ted two. But one of the Ted movies had just come out.
Derick: And, you know, my family's exchanging gifts and me and my brother Marshall are
Derick: giving each other gifts. and we both happened to have bought each other the TED DVD.
Derick: And we opened each other's gifts and we're like, well, we know each other's taste, I guess.
Danny: No, that's great. I mean, I guess if one breaks now, you've got the backup one.
Danny: I guess people still use discs. DVDs are still fairly popular.
Derick: I'm a big physical media guy. I like to have physical stuff whenever I can.
Derick: I'm a big believer in that.
Derick: Because, you know, for a lot of reasons, partially it's that collector mindset,
Derick: but partially it's like because it's something you own, something that if I
Derick: want to watch something, I want to watch, you know, like the other day I was
Derick: wanting to watch Cloud Atlas. I'm like, well, it's not streaming anywhere.
Derick: I got the DVD, though. I could just throw it on, you know, and it looks a lot better.
Derick: You don't have to worry about, you know, the quality of a stream or whatever,
Derick: the internet lagging, like all that stuff.
Derick: You could just put in a DVD to look crisp and precise. and you know i also love
Derick: the bonus features so there's a lot of reasons i love love physical media.
Danny: Yeah no i i hear you i've got an old
Danny: laser disc player and so i love now and again just getting out my
Danny: like criterion edition laser disc of like the star wars original original
Danny: movie release quality you know uh experience so yeah i hear you and good point
Danny: about the streaming it's not always going to be on streaming and the quality
Danny: can really suffer depending you know who you've got and prime just seems to
Danny: want to throw ads in even as you got the four bucks a one faxer you have to
Danny: pay to not have ads. They still put ads in there.
Danny: And they're getting really cheeky now. Some of them are putting ads hard-baked
Danny: into the start of the video.
Danny: So you can't even skip it. You've got to scroll forward before the movie starts up.
Danny: Physical digital mediums yeah i'll go with you on that one yeah
Derick: Or if you like pause it you know like there'll be like an ad it's like taking
Derick: a coffee break grab like this or whatever you know.
Danny: Exactly maybe off the those are i was at a podcast event a few years back and
Danny: someone their service was a podcast sound better on vinyl you could actually
Danny: download your podcast on vinyl record an lp and just build up if you've got
Danny: multiple episodes you have multiple lps but i I thought that was a really cool
Danny: idea, you know, because you get that crispy,
Danny: like crackly sound of an LP, but it's your podcast. Well, that's kind of cool,
Derick: I thought. That's fun. That's cool. That could be like a good,
Derick: you know, novelty gift, you know, like that could be something cool.
Derick: Like, hey, you know, if you have a podcast, you're like, hey,
Derick: I got you this episode for you on vinyl. You know, that'd be cool.
Danny: That would be cool. Well, speaking of podcasts and hopefully coolness,
Danny: it's the end of your turn on the 5 Random Questions hot seat.
Danny: And I really do appreciate you taking the time and sharing your answers with
Danny: some weird and some fun questions there.
Danny: But this is only fair, Derick, because I've had you on the hot seat for about 40, 45 minutes or so.
Danny: It's only fair to hand over the question asking Baton to you.
Derick: Yeah. So my question for you is if you lived in a fictional world, you know, a,
Derick: you know, something from media, whether it be books or TV or movies or video
Derick: games, whatever it might be,
Derick: comic books, but you're still a normal person you're still just a regular guy
Derick: so like if you say harry potter you you're still you're a muggle you don't get
Derick: to go to hogwarts you say lord of the rings you're not an elf you're just a
Derick: human living in rohan or whatever what fictional world would you choose.
Danny: That's a good one there's so many to choose from so many great worlds
Danny: I think for me, I've got a lot of favourite movies. A lot of them are fantasy
Danny: and sci-fi and fantastic worlds, etc.
Danny: I think I'd like to be probably part of the original Star Wars.
Danny: When it was new, when it was first released back in the 70s and the 80s,
Danny: I guess, for the original trilogy.
Derick: Yeah, yeah.
Danny: Purely because it wasn't crazy CGI special editions.
Danny: It felt like a lived-in universe. All the ships were dirty.
Danny: The interiors were dirty. that you'd go to a dive bar and there'd be fights
Danny: and everything. It just, it felt real.
Danny: And I think I'd like to be part of that during the...
Danny: I guess during the first movie, where the rebels are rising up,
Danny: they've had some successes because they're all gone, etc.
Danny: So they're rising up, and now you're starting to see other countries,
Danny: other galaxies, other worlds, etc.
Danny: Rise up too, but there's still a lot of danger.
Danny: So as a human, because it's such a varied,
Danny: lively galaxy, universe, I feel it'd be kind of cool to go there,
Danny: and just see all these wild aliens and these wild vistas and these wild locations
Danny: that you would never see on Earth as a human, obviously.
Danny: You would never go down and speak to a walking rug, right? You'd never see a
Danny: big googly-eyed patron at a bar drinking a little blue milk, etc.
Danny: So I feel, I'm a Star Wars nerd. I love Star Wars through and through.
Danny: The first big movie I saw at the movie theatre was a nine-year-old boy.
Danny: So it's my childhood. dude so i feel that's probably it's probably a cop-out
Danny: because it's a simple one but that would be me where i could just watch this
Danny: galaxy you know go on around me
Derick: And even if you're stuck on a boring planet or something you're
Derick: like on tatooine you know you can't get up you know you
Derick: still could go to like you said the bar and there's like all kinds
Derick: of crazy aliens there and there's you know people playing these you
Derick: know weird instruments and everything and uh who knows maybe one day you'll
Derick: see han solo walk in or whatever even if you're like a normal person you're
Derick: a grunt in the rebellion or whatever um you know living under you know in a
Derick: fascist imperial empire would not be ideal but other than that i think that's
Derick: a pretty good that's a pretty good answer.
Danny: Well, as well, you've got the, I mean, you've got the Womp Rats.
Danny: You can go hunting Womp Rats, right? You can go, you know, I think it was Tatooine
Danny: that they had the pod race on as well, right?
Danny: From the middle prequel trilogy, I guess.
Danny: So I guess there's a whole bunch of stuff to do. But yeah, I feel that'd be it.
Danny: And like you say, I just feel that it'd be fantastical just to be in these worlds.
Danny: Because I'm not going to get anywhere.
Danny: If space travel became affordable and, you know, widespread for the human race,
Danny: I don't think that would happen in my lifetime. That's going to be my kids'
Danny: or their kids' lifetime, for example.
Danny: So having that opportunity, that'd be good enough for me for now.
Derick: Yeah, that's cool. I like that answer.
Danny: Well, I appreciate the question and taking me back to my Star Wars youth.
Danny: And as I mentioned, I have really enjoyed having you in the Random Questions Hot See, Derick.
Danny: For people that want to check out your podcast, the other stuff that you do,
Danny: I know on your website you've got a whole bunch of stuff that you also do as
Danny: well. You've got another podcast.
Danny: Each year you come up and review special episodes, etc., or movies of the year.
Danny: For everybody that wants to check out all the cool stuff you're doing.
Danny: Where's the best place to connect, find you online, listen to the shows, etc.
Derick: Yeah, like you said, you can go to my website, underratedmoviepodcast.com that
Derick: has links not only to Underrated, but the other podcasts that I do,
Derick: like I do one on the MCU called Infinity Stones and Dragon Bones.
Derick: You mentioned that however year I have a different podcast that I do as a bonus
Derick: podcast over on my Patreon. So you can also go to patreon.com slash underratedmoviepodcast
Derick: or on all the social media just by looking up Underrated Movie Podcast.
Derick: Or, of course, however you're listening to this podcast, we're on all the podcast
Derick: apps. Just look up Underrated Movie Podcast and we should come up.
Danny: Awesome. And as always, I'll be sure to leave all these links in the show notes.
Danny: So if you're listening on the podcast app at the moment or even online on the
Danny: website, just check the episode show notes out as usual and all the good links
Danny: will be there over to Derick's cool stuff.
Danny: So again, Derick, I really appreciate you coming on 5 Random Questions today.
Derick: Yeah thank you for having me and i will say it is very cool to hear my name
Derick: pronounced in a proper scottish accent you know it's it's it's you know i don't
Derick: realize how cool it was that what i was missing until it happened so it's very that was very fun that.
Danny: Is awesome it's funny i saw your name and i thought either scottish background
Danny: or irish background so i'm glad that that worked out
Derick: I was very happy i found out recently i always thought it was irish but i found
Derick: out recently more recently Scottish I did the Ancestry.com.
Danny: Thing Awesome well again well even that's an added bonus that's going to be
Danny: my bonus outtake there for sure that is awesome to hear you're very welcome
Danny: Thanks for listening to 5 Random Questions and if this was your first time here
Danny: feel free to hit follow and check out past episodes If you enjoyed this week's
Danny: episode I'd love for you to leave a review on the app you're currently listening
Danny: on and if you know someone else that would enjoy the show be sure to send them
Danny: this way it's very much appreciated Until the next time keep asking those questions.